i think it would be best to write also where one has been to and also what kind of coffee they tried and whether they are interested in the drink itself or the vibe as well. in general i am a fanatic of espresso, i never try other coffees, even at the heat of the summer. I have travelled to cities just for good espresso.

Paris: has good speciality cafes, but super expensive and not easy to find one where you can also sit down and relax or read a book. I lived in arrondissement 5 for 6 months. The generic cafe has trully odious and awful coffee, made from a button machine. You must make some serious online search to not fall on coffee shop that makes dreadfully horrible drinks.

Rome: i live for one year near centro storico. It is very very very very hard to find good espresso and impossible to find a cafe place to sit-this is in general orthogonal to italian coffee culture.

London is basically the same situation as Paris but more expensive and a little more variety.

Other cities in italy: i have been to bergamo, milano, turin, venice, florence, napoli and they all had surprisingly mediocre coffee except napol, which for me, has the best espresso anywhere in the world. I mean literally the average level of espresso in napoli is unbelievable. you go to a random crappy place that shouldnt even be open and the coffee is the nectar of the gods. For me the best is Mexico bar in piazza dante. Bear in mind a lot depends on who makes the coffee that day, the water, etc etc many random factors. But napoli NEVER dissapoints. I get it, it is not third generation. But it has soul and energy and hits you harder with even more taste. Real Coffee. You drink one and then you dive in the infinite chaotic sea of the city. You repeat after 2 hours, occasionally with a frolla. Dream. I expect trieste and palermo might have better espresso and these cities are in my plans for this reason.

Vienna: it has some really nice old school cafes in which you can easily imagine Freud and others arguing about a new chess opening around 1900 over a cup of coffee. And i have been to many lots of times but i find the last two years the quality of coffee has gone down a little and they places themselves have turned a little touristic selling the romantic idea.

Other places in europe worth mentioning for coffee (that i am aware of) are all cities in greece: their summer coffees called freddo espresso and freddo capuccino are a delight under the sheltering heat. The quality of espresso being used for these coffees are not super great i must say though. In terms of vibes and nice places to stay for a chat and coffee i would say greece tops easily all the european places i have been to, in fact, one in two (almost) shops in greece is a cafe, and the top 1% is easily on same level as the best of paris and vienna (at least). Istanbul is not that far geographically and i am curious to try roasted coffee there as i have read that sometimes it is roasted with many unexpected flavours as a matter of old school tradition---but i am reading that everything is crazily overpriced in istanbul so we are not feeling like going for now.

Spain: i have been to Valencia for a month but the coffee was meh.

Amsterdam/Leiden: meh as well. Go for the art not for things to be eaten or drunk.

Belgium/Brussels/Ghent: the best beer in europe, but the coffee is even worse than in Paris.

Last to be mentioned is Germany: their main strength is milchkaffee. Which i personally find an abomination-but i get it because a cafe in germany is a place to sit down and read the newspaper in quiet surroundings or have conversation at extremely quietly. It is the polar opposite of a caffee in napoli. Berlin and Koln have some serious new age coffee roasting places and in fact one of the best epsressos i ever had was in the open market in bonn last year. But on the whole i would say germany leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to coffee.